When the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University denied me entry for the second time, within a four year time-frame of applying, I decided to take another route.

I chose to go to Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University. I was excited to be accepted and to start my Entrepreneurship learning at 26 years old. Within two years, I graduated with my M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship.

But what did I learn?

Sure I understood accounting, finance and how to persuade with the best of them.

But what did I learn? Or better yet, what did I hire the M.B.A. to do?

I hired the M.B.A. to open doors that were never open before… present opportunities that I didn’t know were possible… meet people that were invisible before… CHECK… CHECK…CHECK….

And then CHECK. What did I write that check to do that it didn’t?

My M.B.A experience didn’t teach me, that shipping was already in me. That confidence was already in me. That grit was already in me. That courage was already in me.

We tend to buy books that tell us that we don’t know something like the author does. We tend to buy seminars to tell us we don’t know marketing like we should when we are lifelong marketers. We tend to buy journals so that we can write about shipping when in essence we ship everyday just through our existence.

So the next time you write that check, think about what it is you already know but forgot to acknowledge.

We hear feedback all the time. People say mean things, nice things and sometimes things that aren’t easy to understand.

What we do with the feedback is what matters. Testimony matters. Complaints matter. Compliments matter.

What if people stopped talking about you or your business? What then?

Getting in the practice of having the courage to collect and listen to feedback fuels creativity. What if you spent one hour a week reading the suggestions in the suggestion box? Opening emails? Talking to customers? Listening to employees? Reading survey results?

If you thought it was the 7 -10, you aren’t far off. The hardest shot in bowling has a spare rate of 0.3% and it’s the 4-6-7-9-10 configuration. And, in case you are wondering, the 7 -10 split has a 0.7% spare rate; third hardest shot in bowling.

Why are we talking about splits and bowling?

Because if Forrest Gump would have got it right he would have said “My mom always said life was like bowling. You never know which splits you’re gonna get.”

Life is filled with Greek Churches, Bed Posts, and Big Fours (all split names). Life is also filled with second chances to knock the remaining pins down.

But how can we make second chances more successful?

Give it your best shot on your first chance!

Back to our bowling analogy, there are 3-pin configurations that can improve your chances for spare success to the rate of 89.2%. That’s right, you can hit only three pins and on your second chance you can pick up the spare 89.2%* of the time.

In life if we spend a little more time knowing the configurations that are in front of us, maybe, just maybe we can give it our best first try instead of putting so much pressure on our second try.

* Source: Ten Easiest Shots in Bowling Involving at Least Three Pins

* The 1-3-9* configuration has the highest spare rate of 89.2%. And the tenth easiest shot (1-3-6) has an 82.4% spare rate.